Call Us +506 2289 5125 
Do you think you will miss your customary delicacies after moving to Costa Rica? If you are going to reside in Costa Rica, there is one adjustment you are probably going to be required to make. It is learning to find or invent substitutes for delicacies that don’t exist here. Other delicacies are so obscure […]
A Costa Rica real estate client asked me to write about medicinal herbs in Costa Rica. This, fortunately, comes pretty easy to me. That’s because my dad, together with his partner, Hendrik Stins, opened La Buena Hierba in 1986. This was the first real medicinal herb store in Costa Rica, although you could find medicinal […]
by Ivo Henfling 
I’d like to show you 8 Grocery shopping secrets. That’s because shopping in another country like Costa Rica is a science. In today’s blog, I’d like to give you a hand with your grocery shopping in Costa Rica, you know how to get started and what to look for. Costa Rica offers a wide range […]
by Ivo Henfling 
Online shopping is now becoming a routine for most. My past three blogs discussed shopping in Costa Rica. Let me now spend a bit of time on online shopping. About what happens when you decide to give up looking for that special something. Or if you believe it is easier and probably cheaper to buy […]
Everyone wants to learn about grocery shopping and department stores in Costa Rica. Almost every town has, at least, one Pali supermarket. The department stores have a different location and are usually in larger cities. The Pali grocery stores are structures carrying the bare bones of grocery and sundry items strictly Costa Rican. They do […]
Do you know what a MacGyver in Costa Rica means? TicoNuevo wrote a blog about hardware stores in Costa Rica this week. I would like to go a bit deeper into the matter. He said: “be prepared to substitute or make do with something other than the perfect solution”. If you live in a third […]
by Ivo Henfling 
Let me tell you all about hardware stores in Costa Rica or ferreterías in Spanish. For your shopping pleasure in addition to supermarkets, mini-supers, ferias, central markets, carnicerías, and librerías, in towns of any considerable size, generally included are ferreterías or hardware stores, the standard Ropa Americana store (new and used clothing), jewelry repair, paint […]
Shopping in Costa Rica, for just about anything and everything, is a change from what you are used to in North America. The shopping environment in Costa Rica is much more similar to what I experienced in Europe about 40 years ago. By that I mean, chain stores are here and successful. But the native […]
Do you have any idea of what to wear after moving to Costa Rica? I have just moved to Costa Rica. I came from a place where during the summer, it can be 110 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and windy and 55 degrees F. at night. So, I was influenced by the weather I […]
It’s time to eat in a Costa Rican restaurant or soda, and learn to read the menu. Once you move to Costa Rica, you will want to eat out once in a while. Depending on where you are going to live, you will be able to read the menu or not. In the Escazu and […]
by Ivo Henfling